Where did everyone go?

[kendiefox]

I've been searching around and I've found a couple of still-updating quilting blogs, but many more from ~2011 that just... vanished. I'm used to that sort of thing, I've been online since ~1997, I understand folks move platforms, but I'm not sure where everyone went to.

Where did sewing and/or quilting move? Craftsy? It seems unwieldy, but I'm used to ravelry and new things are weird. And I really, really do not understand Pinterest. (It comes across like craft tumblr, honestly.)

Since this is a cry for help, the specifics: I've started quilting and would like online resources. Preferably ones updated within the last 5 years? But I'll take what I can get. And if there are relevant blogs to follow or some way of wrangling social media, that would be super rad.

As always, if this isn't cool here, I will happily remove or change the post.

Comments

[james]

Every time I look for an online quilting community, I find something with two active posters who aren't doing the sort of thing I'm doing. It's hard to generate a conversation.

The most activity I ever found was on mailing lists, back in the day. I know there is a sewing community on Pillowfort; I'm hoping that with the ease of sharing pictures and posting text, it will gain some traction.

https://www.pillowfort.io/community/sewing

https://www.pillowfort.io/community/HEARTSnCRAFTS

Most of the quilters I know are just offline, and gather in groups in person, which is hard if you aren't in the same area or have the mobility or time to gather.

[kendiefox]

Pillowfort! I had completely forgotten I grabbed the kendiefox name there! Thanks! I will check those out. I think you're right that the ease of posting pictures might help a crafting community grow there. It's hard as heck to do here on DW. (at least for me)

And I do understand that offline groups are far more common, especially for quilters. It's just really difficult to locate any groups close-ish to me in my large city. It seems like they're all ~45 minutes away, or meet midday during the week. Alas.

Thanks again for ideas!

[lilacsigil]

I've mostly found sewing blogs via Pinterest, but none of them seem to have that community feel. There's good tutorials, though, and also on Youtube.

[kendiefox]

Oh yes. I have definitely looked up specific techniques on Youtube for both knitting and sewing. The ability to replay the same 10 seconds is a life saver.

I will keep poking at Pinterest, there is good stuff there and also a lot of stuff that is not to my tastes.

[redsnake05]

I found my crafting niche on Instagram, but its definitely not to everyone's tastes! I mainly sew clothes, and there are loosely organised fests, like Me Made May, with a hashtag that you follow. The fests are usually hosted by a blogger - and that's how you find useful blogs. I'm just easing into a little crafting community on Instagram, and it might turn out to be just your thing?

[kendiefox]

Yeah, I use Instagram for knitting updates and suchlike. But there's also Ravelry for community. I guess I'm looking for that community feel?

I will try to give Instagram more of a shot.

[gatheringrivers]

I'm part of a listserv called "Treadle-On" because I (now) have a couple treadles, and 3 other treadle-era black sewing machines in various stages of poweredness.

It's a list, rather than a blog, but there IS activity, and people usually do a year-end "show" (by sending in pics of things they've done that year to the organizer) that gets posted to the TO website.

A substantial proportion of the list seems to be older than me (Treadles being a rather niche category) but it's very much a community nonetheless.

If you're interested, I can give you the info - just let me know. :)

[kendiefox]

That sounds super cool! It's not relevant to my interests, but someone else around here might want that info. I find that I'm irrationally happy that listservs are still in active use.

Thanks for the info! It's nice to learn where people are talking about craft, even if that craft is not one I share. (I need to learn how to operate the sewing machine in the back of my closet.)

[gatheringrivers]

Whether listservs are in use really seems to depend on the topic the listserv is FOR. I've noticed general socializing seems to be on more "modern" formats - but the ones for niche markets, like Treadle-On, or the lady techies list I'm also on, seem to thrive well in a list format.

[hyperbole]

I'm on the outskirts of the sewing communities on Instagram and YouTube (which overlap significantly). I find both of them less-than-great for that community feel as well so I mostly watch/read/lurk, and I hoped to get/create something better over on the Pillowfort sewing comm that was linked above (I'm spinnerlynne over there) but I don't seem to like posting enough to make it happen. :P

I'll keep trying to make myself comfortable both on DW and PF over the next few months but I'm not a productive sewist and my job eats most of my interact-with-humans energy so we'll see if that works out!

[kendiefox]

Hey, we're low key around here! Post when it works for you, no pressure. Or comment when you feel inspired to do so.

I can't seem to remember that Pillowfort exists often enough to post there. :P And I'm a big fan of threaded comments here, so we'll see what the future holds, yeah?